


A Cup o' Kindness

by Mithen



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Angst, Gen, Kayfabe Compliant, New Years, Unhealthy Relationships, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 23:03:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5516513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mithen/pseuds/Mithen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Becky Lynch comes back to the Performance Center, worried about her friendship with Charlotte.  Sami Zayn has a lot of thoughts, but not much useful advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Cup o' Kindness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kokiyas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kokiyas/gifts).



“Good, good.” The trainer nodded in approval as Sami Zayn came up from his roll. “Any dizziness?”

Sami shook his head, grinning. “Everything seems good.”

“Well, it looks like you didn't damage your shoulder any further in London, so just take it easy over the holidays and you should be ready to go at the next taping."

Sami breathed an exaggerated sigh of relief to make the trainer and the scattering of other wrestlers in the Performance Center smile, but it wasn't much of an exaggeration at all. The U.K. tour had been great, but it would be good to be back in Full Sail.

As he left the practice ring and headed through the weight room, he noticed Finn Balor in a corner, deep in conversation with--Sami blinked at the sight of Becky Lynch. As he did, Finn looked up and saw him. A complicated mix of emotions went across Finn’s face, and he beckoned Sami over.

“Hey,” said Sami as he grabbed a chair and sat down next to Becky. “Long time no see! Are you going to make it home for the holidays?”

“No,” said Becky. “Charlotte invited me to spend it with her family, and…”

She shrugged, looking down.

“Oh,” said Sami.

“It'll be fun,” Becky said, more to herself than to Sami. “Though I wish I could keep Charlotte from buying me anything too crazy-expensive. I told her I couldn't afford anything much in return, but she just laughed and said she liked to buy me nice things and she didn't want anything from me but my friendship.”

“Ah,” said Sami.

“I was just talking with Becky about Charlotte,” said Finn, looking at Sami.

“She really means well,” Becky said to him as if picking up a conversation anew. “She wants me to win and she doesn't understand why winning isn't enough, you know? Why have I got to do it a certain limited way? To her it's all just...winning.”

Becky looked down and twisted a bracelet on her arm. It had letters picked out in diamonds on it--surely not real diamonds, but Sami didn't have enough experience with diamonds to tell. More of the word came into view as Becky twisted it, and Sami could eventually read the whole thing: ENFORCER.

“I had a cat when I was a little girl.” Becky said in a low voice. “I loved that cat, he was so sweet. And now and then he would bring me a bird or a mouse he had tortured to death, as a present. He was always so pleased with himself, he seemed confused if I got upset. He did it because he loved me, you know? Right? So I couldn't hold it against him.” She swallowed. “All those little murders.”

Sami winced and realized Finn was looking at him with a mix of pity and urgency. _Talk to her,_ Finn’s eyes said. _Tell her._

Sami closed his eyes for a moment. So much he could say, too much to actually say. The feeling like quicksand closing around your feet, how you hope if you just lie still and don’t struggle against it you can stay safe, you can rise above. The way you give up more and more of yourself just to stay afloat, the flotsam and jetsam of your own soul. Looking away from one small murder after another, trying not to feel the cold claws of doubt fastening into your heart. How as the happier times grow rarer, somehow they shine brighter and warmer and more precious, and you'd give up anything to keep them close. But you know, you _know,_ that time is running out, and you taste your own hopeful lies like stale bread, every time you tell yourself

“She doesn't mean to hurt me. I'm her _friend._ ” Sami opened his eyes, startled at the sound of Becky’s voice. “I know she's a good person. She just doesn't know any better. If I stay with her, if I talk to her and show her we can do it the right way--it will be okay, I know it will. I just have to…endure it a little longer, you know?”

Finn wasn’t looking at Becky. He was looking at Sami, waiting. 

All the metaphors he couldn't make work together, all the emotions he couldn't reconcile, Sami felt them snarl and tangle in his head. He lifted his hands and dropped them, feeling them fall heavy as a three-count onto his knees.

“I know,” he said finally. “I know.”

Becky looked at him, and for a moment he saw that she knew too. For a moment they looked at each other. Then he watched her put that knowledge away, watched her tell herself Charlotte was different, Charlotte wasn't a monster, Charlotte wasn't beyond hope. Not her friend.

“I have to catch my plane,” she said, standing up. “Thank you both for listening to me go on and on, you've been…” She summoned a smile, though it didn't reach her eyes. “FINNtastic! Absolutely amaZAYN.”

Finn groaned, and she kissed him on the cheek, then smiled at Sami and disappeared out the door.

“Don’t,” said Sami when she was gone.

“Wouldn't dream of it,” said Finn.

“It might be different for them."

“It might."

“And it wouldn't have done any good anyway.”

“I know.” Finn looked at him, wry and affectionate and sad. “I know.”

Sami looked out at the gym and the practice rings. “Merry Christmas, my friend.”

“Happy New Year to you, Sami. May next year treat you better than this one.”

“Should auld acquaintance be forgot, eh?” murmured Sami. “And never brought to mind.”

“A new year is a good time for forgiveness,” said Finn.

Sami chuckled, feeling it bang in his throat. “Not this year, I don't think. Kevin and I--”

Finn shook his head, cutting him off. “I didn't mean Kevin. I meant my friend here behind me,” he said, pointing with a thumb back over his shoulder.

Sami looked past him and met his own eyes in the mirror behind him.

Finn tossed him a bottle of water. “A cup o’ kindness to you, my friend.”

After a moment, Sami raised the bottle. “To auld lang--” He broke off. “You know what? Screw it. To the future.”

Finn lifted his own bottle. “To the future.”


End file.
